Aches, Pains, and Bandages
by RobinNightingale
Summary: In the middle of the night, Urushihara is feeling some of the more unfortunate side effects of his face-off with Kamael. But luckily, someone's there to help. One shot. Based off events in Vol 8.


"Ughhh…"

A low groan rose out of the dark.

Urushihara tried to shift his position in the cramped closet space, but any attempt to do so sent pain shooting through every nerve. But neither did it help to stay still; rather than fade away, the intense aches which wracked his body merely sat there, so that all he could do in the end was endure them.

"Urgh…"

It was the night following the battle with the archangel Kamael. Exhausted and injured, the group of Maou, Suzuno, Urushihara, and Chiho, along with the new addition of the Yesod fragment Acies=Ara, had returned to the Devil's Castle thinking they had once again repelled their enemies. But they returned only to find out that their stronghold, too, had been visited by angels. What's worse, the angels had taken hostages: Emilia's father Nord Justina - whom everyone had just found out was alive all this time - and the Demon General Alciel.

Maou had been prompt to start generating a rescue plan. But despite the urgency of the situation, even he could not deny that first the group had to rest and, in the case of Suzuno and Urushihara, recover from their injuries. Urushihara had been only too glad to finally be able to get back into his closet space and sleep.

But in the middle of the night, he suddenly found himself awake, and in a great amount of agony.

Though his petite figure and everyday behavior wouldn't suggest it, he was actually quite durable. The aches set deep in his body and limbs had been manageable when he went to bed, or maybe he had been merely too exhausted to feel the extent of his injuries. But that bullet of fire sent by Camael had been far more powerful than even he had anticipated, and right now he seemed to be feeling the consequences. For whatever reason, he could definitely feel it now.

 _Maybe if I just go back to sleep…_

He closed his eyes and tried to relax. But the pains in his body refused to abate. If anything, they grew sharper. He suffered in silence for a few more minutes before he finally decided sleep wouldn't come on his own, and opened his eyes again with a sigh.

If only he had something to help with this pain…Even if he could make it go away just a little, he might be able to rest again. But he couldn't move, much less get up to retrieve anything. By now his bones felt like they were getting constricted by the very muscles laced to them, until in his pain-ridden mind he began to fear they might actually snap from the pressure. It was getting difficult to breathe properly, but at the same time he could not help but groan aloud. His breathing grew labored and irregular, punctured by grunts as some aches would peak in sharpness before ever-so-slightly dulling like a heavy weight.

It occurred to him that he might be able to wake someone to help him. But for some reason, as soon as he thought so, he felt a measure of reluctance. The others were recovering as well, and needed their rest. Besides, he'd endured far worse injuries than this. He could just picture Ashiya's voice in his head. _What kind of Demon General are you, to succumb so easily to something like this? Quit embarrassing the image of the Demon Army!_

Even if the words hadn't actually been said, he scoffed as if they were. But he still felt a spark of guilt at them. There was no need to wake anyone just yet, he decided. He could handle this.

And so he was forced to lie in agony until dawn.

Or so he thought.

The closet door was quietly opened by someone from the outside. "Urushihara?"

It was Maou. Urushihara looked up at him through half-lidded eyes. He couldn't see his face, just his faint outline in the darkness. The slight hoarseness to his voice, however, told him Maou had just woken up.

Urushihara tried to respond, but all that came out was a noise of discomfort. "Haaa…."

He could feel Maou grow more alert.

"Are you in pain?" his ever-perceptive master asked.

Pride made him want to deny it. But there was so much concern in his tone, Urushihara could only debate whether or not to answer. The aching was making it hard to talk, anyways.

Maou seemed to take the silence as confirmation.

"Just hang on. I'll be right back."

His outline moved to the side. Through the haze clouding his mind, Urushihara could faintly hear him rummaging around for something. Meanwhile, the aches continued to persist. He closed his eyes again, wishing it all to end.

All of a sudden, Maou was back. "Where does it hurt the most?"

Urushihara breathed through his nose a few times before managing to say, "Ch…Chest…" He gave another grunt as the pain intensified.

Then suddenly something very warm was being pressed against his sternum. He took a deep breath as the pain immediately began to recede. It didn't go away completely, but it was certainly a huge improvement.

He recognized it as one of those Gairo handwarmer packets Ashiya had bought a few months before. Though they were mainly used for the winter, Ashiya and Maou had quickly discovered a dual use for them as relaxants for muscle aches. Maou had been forced to get to work on foot after the loss of his precious Dullahan, and sometimes returned home with aches in his legs and back. At night, the warmers became quite useful to lay on and assuage some of the pain.

He sighed in relief. In the dark, unseen to him, Maou smiled. "Anywhere else?" he asked.

Urushihara considered this for a moment. "My hands…" he said finally. They'd received the worst of the damage, being right up against the flames as he held the bullet at bay. While the skin wasn't damaged, his fingers and palms had begun to sting as though they'd actually been burnt.

"Oh yeah, your hands, huh? I might have to re-bandage them."

After attending to Suzuno's wounds, Amane worked a bit on Urushihara, and had provided some sort of salve that acted like aloe on sunburns, cooling his skin. It had helped his hands immensely the first time it was put on, but now the effects had worn off.

Maou turned on the lights, and Urushihara blinked in the sudden brightness. He noticed for the first time how ridiculous the lord of the household looked, with his sleepy eyes and bedhead. In a rare moment of self-control, however, Urushihara decided against commenting on it.

Maou helped unbandage his hands and reapplied the salve. It felt a little gross and sticky, but the throbbing in his palms soon subsided, and he sighed again. The bandages were trickier. It was clear that sMaou had barely, if any, experience doing this sort of thing, and he re-wrapped the same hand three times before he was satisfied with it.

"I might have to get more salve if you keep this up," Urushihara noted.

Maou frowned. "This is harder than I thought…" He started wrapping the other hand. Then, quieter, "Ashiya is usually the one doing stuff like this…"

Urushihara frowned. The air had become noticeably heavier between them.

"We'll get him back," he said. "The Hero and Alas=Ramus too."

"...Yeah."

Urushihara nearly rolled his eyes. "Oi. You've got a plan, haven't you?"

"Of course I do, but-"

"Then we'll get them back." Urushihara finished.

Maou nearly said something more, but merely closed his mouth in a small smile. "Yeah." His tone was stronger this time.

He finished bandaging Urushihara's other hand. "Okay?"

"Yeah." Urushihara settled his hands by his sides and tried shifting again. This time, he was a little more successful.

"If you want, you can also take the futon."

An embarrassed blush crept into Urushihara's cheeks. He was already a bit uncomfortable with how much care he was getting, simply because he was unused to this much attention. "No need. Here's fine. You can go back to sleep now."

He closed his eyes again. But it didn't last very long before he felt a hand being pressed to his forehead. He cracked his gaze open again.

"I don't have a fever," he mumbled.

Maou smiled again. "You really worked hard yesterday, huh?"

"…Even though I know you're praising me, it still feels like an insult."

"It's not an insult." Maou shook his head. "As your king, I'm commending your performance. You did a good job out there."

Urushihara blushed again, conflicted between feeling warmed by the praise and maintaining his pride. He was incredibly glad there was nobody else to see this right now. "S-stop saying things like that, it's too weird. Just go back to bed already, I'm fine now."

"All right, all right." The hand was withdrawn. But just before the closet door was closed, Maou added, "If you need anything again, don't hesitate to ask. A king is supposed to provide for his subjects, after all."

"…Yeah."

The door closed. The lights shut off again, and Urushihara could hear the muffled sounds of Maou getting back into bed. Once more Urushihara closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. This time, he could feel himself starting to relax.

Right before he drifted off, he decided, just this once, to take comfort in those words.

 _I really helped out…huh…_

* * *

 **RN:** "Gairo" is my spin on the "Kairo" brand of handwarmers used in Japan. I used them all the time when I was there, they're so useful and sooooo warm.

Anyways, I was just re-reading Vol 8 and thought this up. It's set between Vol 8 and 9, if you didn't already catch that. I might go back and edit this again later...or maybe I won't...meh. Once again, I'm not good with endings.

For those of you who are waiting for an update on my other story, _How you have fallen from Heaven, Morningstar,_ I'll let you all know that I'm about halfway done with the next chapter. This is just a side plot bunny. New chapter should be up at some point...before the end of the year, at least.


End file.
